Standards
Thematic Questions
Themes
6th Grade Instructional Sequence  English Language Arts Common Core State Standards
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6
Who Am I?
Belonging
Survival
Making Choices
What’s Your Point?
Where am I?
Who am I?
What factors impact my
personal growth?
How do I define who I am?
How do relationships impact
my life?
What impacts “fitting in”?
What do our differences teach
us? How are differences
regarded today? in the past?
How are we changed by the
changes around us?
What does it take to be a
survivor?
What causes people to take
risks? What makes some take
risks and others not?
RL6.1
RL6.2
RL6.4
RL6.9
RL6.1
RL6.2
RL6.5
RL6.9
RL6.3
RL6.6
RI6.2
RI6.3
RI6.5
RI6.1
RI6.2
RI6.4
RI6.7
W6.3
W6.9
SL6.4
RI6.1
RI6.2
RI6.3
RI6.4
RI6.5
W6.2
W6.9
SL6.4
RI6.6
RI6.7
RI6.8
RI6.9
W6.1
W6.9
SL6.2
SL6.3
SL6.5
What are we willing to give
up in order to gain what we
think we need?
How do we solve problems?
How do our losses impact us?
RL6.1
RL6.2
RL6.5
RL6.9
RI6.2
RI6.3
RI6.4
RI6.6
RI6.9
W6.2
W6.9
SL6.4
How can I make a difference?
What is my “social
footprint”?
What do stories have in
common across time and
space?
How can we know if we
weren’t there?
Does literature reflect culture
or shape it?
RL6.1
RL6.2
RL6.9
RI6.1
RI6.2
RL6.3
RL6.4
RL6.5
RL6.6
RL6.7
RI6.4
RI6.7
RI6.8
W6.1
W6.6
W6.9
SL6.2
SL6.5
RI6.1
RI6.3
RI6.4
RI6.5
RI6.7
W6.3
W6.7
SL6.4
Sample Text
Skill and Writing Focus
Overarching Standards: RL6.10 RI6.10 W6.10 W6.4-6 SL6.1a-d SL6.6 L6.4a-d L6.5 L6.6
As a reader, how does textual
evidence determine and
clarify meaning?
How is theme developed
through details of a text?
How are context clues used to
determine meaning?
How does word choice affect
tone, meaning and mood?
How is writing impacted by
task, purpose, and audience?
How do effective
collaborative discussions
empower readers?
How is a theme or central idea
developed through details of a
text?
How does text structure impact
the development of ideas and
meaning?
What is effective textual analysis
for information text?
How is credible information
collected and effectively used to
examine, explain and inform?
What characterizes effective
presentation?
How do authors develop points
of view?
How does word choice affect
tone, meaning and mood?
How does text structure impact
the development of ideas and
meaning?
How are effective arguments
with sound reasoning and
sufficient evidence developed
and delivered?
How does media impact the
way in which ideas are clarified,
perceived, or understood?
Writing: Narrative and Draw
evidence to support analysis,
reflection, and research
Writing: Informative/ explanatory
and draw evidence to support
analysis, reflection, and research
Writing: Argument from textual
evidence
Freak the Mighty
Face on a Milk Carton
“Stray”
“Tuesday of the Other June”
“Flowers and Freckle Cream”
“Eleven”
“Saying Yes”
“Feathered Friend”
“Ode to Family Photographs”
Esperanza Rising
Surviving the Applewhites
A Single Shard
Excerpt from Stargirl
“Alphabet”
“The Sidewalk Racer”
“The World is not a Pleasant
Place to Be”
MLK Speeches
Red Scarf Girl
The Clay Marble
Treasure Island
Call it Courage
Night of the Twisters
“Life Doesn’t Frighten Me”
“King of Mazy May”
“Race to the End of the Earth”
Titanic accounts
Historical Speeches
As a reader, how does textual
evidence determine and clarify
meaning?
How are key details effectively
introduced, illustrated, and
elaborated in a text?
How does point of view affect
how an event is perceived and
presented?
How do effective collaborative
discussions empower readers?
Writing: Informative/
explanatory and conduct short
research projects
The Breadwinner
Artemis Fowl
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Crash
“Greyling”
“Zlateh the Goat”
“The Tail”
How do authors develop points
of view?
How does text structure impact
the development of ideas and
meaning?
How are effective arguments
with sound reasoning and
sufficient evidence developed
and delivered?
How does media impact the
way in which ideas are
clarified, perceived, or
understood?
How do characters change or
respond to events that unfurl
the plot?
How are key details effectively
introduced, illustrated, and
elaborated in a text?
How do film and literature
complement each other?
How does text structure impact
the development of ideas and
meaning?
How can information be
effectively presented in a
variety of ways?
Writing: Argument and draw
evidence to support analysis,
reflection, and research
Writing: Narrative and draw
evidence from reading to support
analysis, reflection, and research
Regarding the Fountain
Hoot
Jaguar
“Boredom Blues Begone”
“Justice at Last”
Current Nonfiction
Historical Speeches
The Phantom Tollbooth
Zlata’s Diary
A Wrinkle in Time
The Midwife’s Apprentice
“The Fun They Had”
“My Papa”
“A Dream within a Dream”
“Mowglis Brothers”
“Past, Present, Future”
“Adventures of Isabel”
Myths, legends, folklore
Resources for teaching the Language strand will be available for delivery via direct instruction, in context, and with writing applications.
Revised May 2012 for 2012-13